Make it STOP!
 

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/ne...elebrates-bond

Stuff like this is vile. Please, Mr. Palmer, don't devalue the marque like this. You're in charge of Aston Martin, not Ferrari. Not a good direction to be going in...:mad:

What's the big deal? If I was in the market for a DB9 GT, I'd be happy to buy a 'Bond edition', especially when it came time to sell it 20 years down the road.

It's done in a very cool classy subtle way...if I were a DB9 kinda guy I would totally buy one.

Wow, surprised you guys don't mind it. Different opinions - guess that's what makes the world go 'round. I think it's in pretty poor taste, but then, Aston have been going down the 'in your face' / bling path more and more with styling and hideous 'Q' customization options. What ever happened to 'less is more' and customary British reserve? With this sort of cynical marketing Aston is just like any other McCar brand.

I'm more on spinecho's side than not, but don't totally agree. I think more subtle special touches might have been better. Like the dragon version of some cars sold in China.

As far as the Q options, that's entirely in keeping with the best of Aston Martin. The customer gets what they are willing to pay for and they create totally unique things.

I think the real crime is that they didn't step up and make a very few DB10 for retail sale. THOSE would be collectable and they wouldn't need to have the word "Bond" written/stiched/etched anywhere on them.

The 007 thing is inextricably linked with our cars, whether we like it or not. But I'm not going to buy a matching Omega and other Bond trinkets because I look nothing like JB and the public would just laugh at me (maybe they do anyway... hey, an old man trying to look like James Bond!)

The car is the attraction for me, since I'm old and wise enough to disassociate the Bond fantasy from the day to day reality of bird droppings, clogged up roads and the occasional underbody scraping noise when I don't judge my sharp bump driveway angle that well.

The only complaint I'd have with this promo is that those photos don't flatter the DB9 in any way, making it look slab sided which I know from delightful experience - aka hours of in-garage gazing - it isn't.

If they sell, great. It's just a special edition - which is a normal one with some slight changes and a ltitle markup.

I just think it's funny that they're doing all this with a DB9, to commemorate a movie featuring the DB10......... which is actually a V8V.

They'll sell, and they know it. Simple as that.

Hope this isn't the direction they're going with the final edition Vantage

Didn't Palmer say he wanted to woo female buyers? They should do a Moneypenny edition.

I'm afraid the analyst in me is coming out.
So this is a special Aston Martin, branded with the identity of the ultimate Aston Martin customer. But this customer is a spy who's identity, one might expect is supposed to be secret. So why would the company who supplies his cars go and make one with his name on it?
Slapping on branding from a movie franchise breaks the 4th wall in all of the wrong ways. Many of us (I'm one, I admit) like the AM brand association with the coolest spy. But this turns the affair around backwards. By sticking the graphic and the text on there, now I'm not "like" Bond, but rather just a superfan of Bond movies. James Bond would never drive this car. In fact, this car can not exist in his universe. FAIL.

If AM wants to make and sell a Bond edition, make it exactly what he drives in a movie. Otherwise, just let the brand association roll. It's been working just fine for a while.

No. They should do an edition that comes with Daniel Craig in it (if my GF's tastes are any indication). They'd sell more cars than Toyota.

I love how the Brits hate it and the Yanks love it.

Summarisies wonderfully why the world thinks the Yanks have no taste hilarious

American here and I'm not a big fan. The omega special editions aren't for me either. That being said, if it makes money for AM and they use said monies to continue producing and improving their products then fine with me. Keep it in limited numbers and don't make it a habit and I won't feel like it is diluting the refined taste of the brand.

I'm Canadian so I won't take offence LOL but there's more than a bit of irony in your comment as:

1. It is a British company responsible for said car with "no taste", and

2. Check out the Pistonheads Aston forum thread on this topic and you will see there are quite a few Brits who actually "love it" and are defending it!